Ayatollah Khamenei. Image Credit: Tasnim News, CC BY 4.0.
Iran announced that it has publicly hanged a 23-year-old as the second execution linked to the recent anti-government protests.
On Monday, 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in the city of Mashhad after a court convicted him of “enmity against God” after being accused of killing two members of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force.
Human rights groups have warned protesters that people are being sentenced to death after sham trials with no due process.
Majidreza’s family were then given the name of a cemetery and a plot number.
When they arrived, security agents were burying his body.
The lawyer provided to Rahnavard reportedly did not attempt to defend him in court, having been denied a lawyer of his choice altogether.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights organisation alleged on Twitter that Rahnavard’s sentencing was based on “coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair process and a show trial”, in response to the news.
So far, at least 488 protesters have been killed by security forces and 18,259 others have been detained, according to the Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA).
